How to delete all your files
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How to delete all your files
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Re: How to delete all your files
#2Nobody wants to talk about msdos?
Re: How to delete all your files
#3I once saw a friend nearly delete all their files using tip#3 from the thread:
> never use only * as a wildcard. A ./* would save you in most cases
My friend typod that for /* in an rm -rf command but caught it just in time. They seemed like unnecessary characters to me if it does the same as *, and I don't think they do it anymore, but now I'm not sure which is worse...
I suppose good backups just go a long way whatever you do.
Re: How to delete all your files
#4My friend did a "rm * -i" and got back a '-i not found'
Re: How to delete all your files
#5I once saw a friend nearly delete all their files using tip#3 from the thread: > never use only * as a wildcard. A ./* would save you in most cases My friend typod that for /* in an rm -rf command but caught it just in time. They seemed like unnecessary characters to me if it does the same as *, and I don't think they do it anymore, but now I'm not sure which is worse... I suppose good backups just go a long way what…
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Re: How to delete all your files
#6I once saw a friend nearly delete all their files using tip#3 from the thread: > never use only * as a wildcard. A ./* would save you in most cases My friend typod that for /* in an rm -rf command but caught it just in time. They seemed like unnecessary characters to me if it does the same as *, and I don't think they do it anymore, but now I'm not sure which is worse... I suppose good backups just go a long way what…
I just did that last weekend!
After an allnighter, which isn't easy for me anymore, I typed:
``rm -rf. /*``
with the dot and the space reversed.
When the shell threw an error in my face, I thought, "oh, an extra dot." so I deleted the dot and re-run the command.
And there goes my configs and most of the dotfiles in my home dir. Luckily, I have backup for some of those, so it wasn't a complete disaster.
I don't trust myself doing ``rm`` in commandline anymore.
Re: How to delete all your files
#7Nobody wants to talk about msdos?
How do you provision hundreds of boxes using a UI?
...In a way that can be checked in source control and reviewed?
CLIs are not bad.
Re: How to delete all your files
#8I think Unix Wildcards Gone Wild (2014)[0] demonstrates and explains this rather well (posted 6 and 4 years ago[1][2] - while HN supports reposting, it's probably been posted enough)
[0]: https://www.defensecode.com/public/DefenseCode_Unix_WildCard... [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8189968 [2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17376895
Re: How to delete all your files
#9An `rm -rf ` always has the potential for some desaster. Especially if you are calling it from bash history via `Ctrl + r` and hit return too fast without editing the argument after `-rf`. Actually the rm command should move files into a `~/.Trash` folder instead of immediately removing them.